Stellar Blade is Not The Game You Think it Is — The Good & Bad [Review]

South Korean developer Shift Up had a high bar to aim for with Stellar Blade, sending the developer’s first triple-A title into the ring with other PS5 exclusives like God of War, Uncharted, The Last of Us, Spider-Man, and other high-praise franchises under the Sony banner. It’s safe to say, though, that Stellar Blade fits right in alongside the quality of those games, delivering a stunning experience that is way more than meets the eye.

And this is because, upon first glance, Stellar Blade looks like an anime-inspired spin on the ‘Souls-like’ genre, offering a slower, more challenging RPG with tactical combat to tackle. However, Stellar Blade is more like the amalgamation of Devil May Cry, Darksiders, and Castlevania, delivering fast, frenetic combat that still requires skill and timing but isn’t a punishing slog, along with fun platforming, puzzle mechanics, and a gorgeous cinematic feel to it. It’s easily one of the most unique and ambitious action games in recent years, and while it doesn’t land everything perfectly, it’s a must-play; and here’s why:

The good

Instead of a long-winded intro and information dump on the lore, world, and conflict of the Stellar Blade universe, you’re thrown right into the action from the opening moment — so, for those who want to get into the meat of a game without all the fluff, Stellar Blade is for you. You, playing as Eve, are (quite literally) dropped into the middle of a conflict between cyber-enhanced human soldiers and a race of creatures known as the Naytiba who have taken over Earth. From there, the story is told through some brief yet cinematic cutscenes along with some great environmental storytelling, with a lot of it revolving around Eve’s discovery of old Earth relics (as she never experienced a non-destroyed Earth), such as a library and art, and seeing her in awe of the world that once was.

Of course, most of the game is made up of hacking and slashing your way through grotesque and awesomely designed monsters, all of whom have unique attack patterns and tricks of their own. Thankfully, Eve’s combat style is acrobatic, fast, and brutal with some cybernetic enhancements to help her along the way.

Instead of simply swinging your sword and ripping through enemies with reckless abandon, combat in Stellar Blade is a lot more meticulous. You’ll have to suss out your enemies, see when and how they attack, and use openings to deal as much damage as possible. You find these openings through the use of parrying and dodging, which can stagger enemies and leave them vulnerable to attacks. To swing the harder fights in your favour, you also have access to beta and burst attacks which can be used once you build a meter up by blocking and parrying with the correct timing.

What makes the combat loop so enjoyable though is the visualisation of the whole process. Certain unblockable attacks have to be dodged, but these are hinted at with a yellow glow on an enemy. If timed correctly, you literally teleport behind the enemy in an ultra-slick cinematic style and can then deliver some serious punishment to said enemy. Even the normal hacking of the enemies (when possible) sends blood and sparks out of them making for a firework display of gore and metal. It’s all very stylish and gamers who love a bit of pazzazz with their combat won’t find much better than this.

And it’s not just the combat that looks, well, stellar. Everything Eve does is stylish — from sliding down ladders to flicking a coin into a vending machine — the game and character just oozes style and puts her in the camp of Dante from Devil May Cry or Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4. You really do feel like you’re watching a hyper-choreographed anime series, but one that you’re the director of.

And while you may think you’re just going to fight your way through Stellar Blade, the game really opens up with some other gameplay elements, and even throws you into a semi-open world environment where some admittedly clever physics-based puzzles, platforming segments, and a variety of other gameplay genres peek their heads in. It’s really impressive how much Shift Up worked into the experience of Stellar Blade, giving you a lot of variety in its 20-hour runtime without detracting from the fast pace and action-first approach.

The bad

To be fair, there is not much to complain about when it comes to Stellar Blade, but it’s not without some small hiccups.

Sometimes you’ll take on multiple enemies at once, and your parry and dodge attack only seems to work with the particular enemy you’re locked onto, leaving you to get whacked by other surrounding enemies. You either need to be facing them directly or at least kind of. Perhaps it’s intentional to keep you moving and getting your placement during combat right, but more often than not you can find yourself being attacked from behind even though you timed a perfect dodge to no avail.

When it comes to platforming, it’s snappy and serviceable, but due to more weighty controls, it isn’t as precise as it could be. With that said, this is a minor gripe as the game does so much else right, it’s understandable that the platforming isn’t as clinical as other games dedicated to that genre.

There are some really small irritating things too, like the music which can become annoying. The original soundtrack is amazing, full of upbeat electronic South Korean songs, which is great, but you’ll hear them a lot. Yes, you can switch off the music in the menus, but when it is playing, the game rotating songs would be great rather than simply looping the same song.

Worth a buy?

Probably not since Devil May Cry 5 have gamers had such a stylish and action-packed game to sink their teeth into, and Stellar Blade is that and so much more. It’s got an incredibly interesting and unique combat system that is engaging and satisfying to learn, stunning visuals, some unexpected gameplay variety, and a captivating new protagonist to boot. Stellar Blade deserves to be thrown onto the list of best action games without hesitation.

Stellar Blade is available on PS5.